El Cajon marchers rally for Iraqi Christians

In downtown El Cajon marchers walking with a map cutout of Iraq on a gurney lead hundreds of Chaldean protesters as they cross Main Street at Magnolia Avenue. The march began at St. Michael Chaldean Catholic Church and ended at a rally at Centennial Plaza.
— Charlie Neuman

In downtown El Cajon marchers walking with a map cutout of Iraq on a gurney lead hundreds of Chaldean protesters as they cross Main Street at Magnolia Avenue. The march began at St. Michael Chaldean Catholic Church and ended at a rally at Centennial Plaza.
— Charlie Neuman

EL CAJON  Hundreds of Chaldeans marched through the streets of El Cajon Tuesday in support of Christians on the run from Islamic militants in Iraq.

“We are here to show our unity with them,” Bishop Bawai Soro of the Chaldean Catholic Diocese said during an address at Centennial Plaza downtown. “We see our brothers and sisters being persecuted in Iraq, and we have to tell them we love them.”

The “Peace Walk” in this center of the Iraqi Christian population in San Diego County started at St. Michael’s Catholic Church and snaked along Washington and Avocado avenues before culminating at Centennial Plaza, where Soro and other speakers called for increased help from the Obama administration.

Soro echoed many of the marchers in calling for the United States to grant asylum to the tens of thousands of Christian refugees who fled their homes in recent weeks as militants from the Islamic State tore through northern Iraq.

“If peace is for them to join us in this country, than let it be,” Soro said.

Marchers chanted “Stop the Killing” and “Save Iraq, Save Humanity” as well as shouting, “We are N,” a reference to Islamic State painting the letter “N” on the homes of Christians, in effect marking them as targets.

Among the peaceful marchers was Sajed Gaggi, 58, who came to El Cajon 10 years ago after the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.

“There is genocide going on,” Gaggi said. “Where is President Obama. Wake up before the killing ends. You have to stop them (Islamic State) now or they are going to be here.”

El Cajon police estimated that about 500 people took part in the march, including many leading figures in the Chaldean community such as Mark Arabo, who has urged the Obama administration and the United Nations to come to the aid of Iraqi Christians.

“We’re here to give voice to the voiceless,” said Arabo, head of the Neighborhood Market Association in San Diego. “We are asking America to open its doors to these people.”

Arabo is lobbying members of San Diego’s congressional delegation to draft legislation that would grant asylum to an unspecified number of Iraqi Christian refugees, including some who would come to San Diego County. Rep. Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, may sponsor the bill, Arabo said.

At the head of the march was a gurney carrying a large map of Iraq with a dagger driven through its center.

Helping usher marchers was 21-year-old Allen Theweny, a UC San Diego student whose parents immigrated to the United States from Iraq.

“We are hoping to raise public awareness and get people to act,” Theweny said. “People are being killed, women are being kidnapped and raped, and we have to help.”

Most of San Diego County’s estimated 70,000 Iraqis are Chaldeans and are concentrated in and around El Cajon.

The United Nations announced Tuesday that it has launched a massive aid effort aimed at feeding, sheltering and supplying an estimated half million Iraqis who have fled their homes.